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So, I had every intention of making a WIP thread prior to C6. But as I'm sure everyone here is fully aware of, the best laid plans in costuming rarely happen as we hoped. I finished my armor parts just hours before leaving for c6 and I was still having technical difficulties the day of and wouldn't have been able to put it all together without help from TDH friends (thanks txfett!). Without further delay.....

Most of the suit was completed by members of TDH, of which I can not thank everyone enough. I knew, however, I wanted to at least do the flightsuit myself. It was really important to me to have one part of the costume that I could finish entirely on my own. Although I must give credit to my mother (who will never read this thread lol), she is a much better seamstress than I am, and really helped guide me through it. I should add that I based my costume around a figurine I had found on the internet when I first began my journey for Boba Fett. On a side note you might notice the figurine is the same one also used by Kristen. We both based our costume unknowingly on the same concept. What can I say, great minds think alike

Of course, I used white cotton twill. I didn't take any progress pictures along the way, although I wish I had. It should be noted as well that I used the wizard of flight pattern for the ankle spats and I just created the pocket for the front of the pants based on the dimensions of the pants once they were completed. So the final product before the dye bath was this:

I'm not sure what RIT dye boxes were purchased when he did this thread, but the boxes I bought were "concentrated" and I ended up having to double the amount of water after placing the dye powder in the water. Fortunately I used a 10 gallon trash can to mix the dye in so I was able to accommodate the 8 gallons it took to appropriately dilute the powder. I followed the directions exactly. The first picture is my test strip which I realized was much too dark, and the second test strip confirmed the color was much better. Attachment 63355Attachment 63356

The first picture shows immediately after the dye bath, and the second is after it had dried (although I was starting to dampen to prepare for weathering when I realized I needed to snap a quick picture.)

Again, I mixed the brown dye and applied the weathering using a spray bottle. The idea of having a flightsuit that was weathered thoroughly appealed to me. I looked at a couple of reference pictures but to be honest, I really just added dye where it made sense to me. Everything was pulled together last minute, so I really only had 1 day to weather, and was only able to apply to dye maybe 3 times total throughout the day. And here's the finished product, plus a close up of the pants:

What I learned from my first attempt at dying/weathering. Always use a test strip before you dye your desired part. Thankfully I did this part correctly. When it came to the weathering I feel like the spray bottle was just inconsistent with the "stream" if you will. There were several places that I felt the droplets were too large on the material and even though I thoroughly dampened my flight suit prior to, you can see where the dye did not distribute and ultimately just became round blotches in places. Also I wish I had more time to weather, the color has naturally lightened up and its more of a maroon color in places. Overall though I am pretty pleased with how the final product turned out, especially since I had never dyed anything before. I also forgot to mention I dyed the ankle spats a "taupe" color. I just added color to the water until I got a shade I was happy with.

Onto the shoes! Although I based my costume on the figurine, I wanted my fett to be SE. So for some reason I decided that I wanted to get white shoes that I could modify but with a heel to give me a little more height. This is the pair that I bought. I found some leather cords used with making jewelry that I cut down and glued to the shoes to give them the black piping and ended up using acrylic paints in various grey and blacks that I mixed together. I tried to use a finish that was matte, but as you will see in the picture the shoes are still fairly reflective. In retrospect a light sanding probably would have helped with that and possibly even getting the paint to adhere better. I forgot to take a good after picture but you will be able to see in the full pictures at the end.

Miscellaneous photos of the gear:

Although I don't have any really great pictures of the cape itself, I did the weathering after receiving it from Christy. I took scissors to the bottom and just cut jaggedly in different directions, then came back and frayed the entire bottom by hand. I then went into my garage with a hammer and it several times with the head and used the back to tear holes in it. Afterwards I washed it once in the washing machine and hung it up to dry.

For a WIP on the "hard parts" all painted by Deadland here are the links:

More photos from CVI and of course with some of the fine people from TDH

And last but certainly not least......Jeremy Bulloch!!! And yes he autographed the inside of my helmet and I'm pretty sure I was incoherent talking to him.

Needless to say I had a blast! I learned so much through building this costume, more than any other costume I have done. It was definitely the biggest undertaking for sure. I am extremely proud of my first build. Although I am always looking for ways to improve my costume. I know of several things I already want to redo or upgrade. Please feel free to comment and help me with improving.

Also, I wanted to say thanks to everyone at TDH who helped me with this build. It was def not something I could have done by myself! Putting my costume on for the first time, it was so much more than I could have ever imagined. I am so grateful.

This was my first celebration to attend and I couldn't have had more fun. Everyone was so accepting and really made me feel like a part of TDH instantly. I can't wait to attend more conventions in the future and help with TDH of course

Great write up Katie and boy did it all pull together nicely!!!! Job well done. Have fun at D Con and I should have your jet pack wrapped up by the end of next week!!! Love the pic with you and Jeremy!!

I don't know....it's a nice costume but....meaby you need something to be complete.
It seems that you are missing something...

oh how happy you make me! i miss you guys already! the constant headache I woke up with every morning after hanging out all night. I am not sure I can think normally without it now! I hope yall had as much fun as i did and yes I can think of something you can help me out with for sure! haha

Great write up Katie and boy did it all pull together nicely!!!! Job well done. Have fun at D Con and I should have your jet pack wrapped up by the end of next week!!! Love the pic with you and Jeremy!!

Rob

Im excited to see this! Was a little disapointed it wasnt in any pics...I was like oh no

Katzybugz said:

oh how happy you make me! i miss you guys already! the constant headache I woke up with every morning after hanging out all night. I am not sure I can think normally without it now! I hope yall had as much fun as i did and yes I can think of something you can help me out with for sure! haha

Personally I prefer the shots of you with that other male SE Fett. I wish I had been able to help you initially attach the pieces so you would have a little better placement in some areas but I'll say that for it being a night time rushed job, you set it up nicely. Like you said, there is a few touch up areas to really make an amazing costume even better but you still finished out an amazing costume.

I'll always say it, your passion and drive to do this costume the right way really shines through in the final product. I'm glad that I was able to be there for your geek out moments and I'm proud to have provided 1% of the help that went into this.

1% of the help haha...Scott you make me giggle. Seriously though, this did come out VERY nice. Heard a little Avenger action is in the works?

haha i told him he could have 1.5% credit but he is trying to make sure I have the spotlight on this one I was seriously bracing myself for your critique, not that it wouldn't be appreciated but I know you pay attention to the small details and point out places for improvement. And yes I am going to be doing a female captain america! I have had the shield for a couple of months but thanks to Hillary I have found what design I'm going to base my costume on.
Btw you should know i'm seriously girl crushing on your wife, she is so pretty and super cool! I'm so glad I got to meet her at C6! Just wished we could have hung out longer. I'm trying to convince her to cosplay with my Marvel idea! So we shall see! She will look good regardless of what she chooses!

And a general thank you to all the sweet comments! It was a lot of hard work but totally worth it! I can't wait to take her to dragon con this weekend! even though my flight was cancelled I am still gonna make it there driving!

Alex!! Thanks for all the sweet compliments! You were so much fun yourself!! I wanted to talk to you at the tdh dinner but didn't have time! Also if I didn't say it before your paint job on kristen's armor and your fett helmet for make a wish were both spectacular! I hope we get to hang out again in the future!